Dollar deposits in Argentina: How much can you safely withdraw with ARCA?

Depositing dollars into a bank account in Argentina is a common practice, but it requires compliance with certain regulations to avoid issues with entities such as the Customs Collection and Control Agency ( ARCA) . This agency regulates the movement of foreign currency to prevent irregular transactions and ensure the transparency of the financial system.

To avoid problems, it's essential to know the requirements that must be met when making these deposits, as well as the potential legal consequences that may arise if current regulations are not followed.

To make a problem-free dollar deposit with the bank or ARCA , certain requirements must be met. First, the dollars to be deposited must have been acquired legally and be "declared" or "registered" in the financial system. This includes transactions such as the purchase of official dollars , MEP (Mexican Pesos) , or even cryptocurrencies that have been duly reported to the authorities.

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However, those who have never purchased dollars through the formal market may face difficulties justifying their deposits, even if they have income in pesos to support the transactions. As specialists explain, "ARCA not only analyzes the income itself, but also how the funds were acquired. That is, even if an amount may seem reasonable, if it is not backed by a formal transaction, it could be considered illegal and subject to sanctions under the Foreign Exchange Criminal Law."

Additionally, starting January 1, 2025 , ARCA may request information from banks when transactions exceed certain amounts: spending, income, and expenses that together reach $600,000 , deposits or final balances that exceed $1,000,000 , and virtual wallet transfers that exceed $2,000,000 . This includes cash withdrawals , bank transfers, and debit card transactions, both in the country and abroad.

The Foreign Exchange Criminal Law provides severe penalties for those who carry out foreign exchange transactions without the intervention of authorized entities or without complying with established conditions. The penalties include:

• Fines of up to 10 times the amount of the transaction in the case of a first offense.

• Imprisonment of 1 to 4 years or a fine of 3 to 10 times the amount of the transaction for the first repeat offense.

• Imprisonment of 1 to 8 years and payment of the maximum fine provided for in the previous cases for the second reoffense.

It's important to note that for a second repeat offense, both imprisonment and a fine are applied, while for a first repeat offense, an alternative between the two is established, as stipulated by law. Despite these sanctions, there is no public record of their effective application to date, which has generated some uncertainty in the financial sphere.